^1%6> 



.N.S. 



.MS 






DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED IN THE 



SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

NEW-BRUNSWICK, N. J., JULY 4, 1852. 



BY 



KEV. ISAAC N. SHANNON", 
pastor of sai& Umt 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



Neu>-j3rtmsurick: 

A. ACKER MAN, PUBLISHER 

1852. 



.N s 



PUDNEY & RUSSELL, PRINTERS. 
79 Jolin-Street, New-York. 



DISCOUESE. 



What hath God wrought!" 



We deem it appropriate to this day — the Seven- 
ty-sixth Anniversary of American Independence — 
to acknowledge the gracious dealings of God 
with this nation. We regard our past his- 
tory as an index to our future destiny. What 
God has already wrought in this land is the 
pledge of still greater things to come. He has 
planted and prospered this nation for important 
purposes, and those purposes may be learned, in 
part, from our past history and present condition. 
It becomes us then not only to acknowledge His 
providential care in general, but to study the pe- 
culiar dispensations of His providence, with a view 
to determine our present duty, and our future des- 
tiny among the nations of the earth. 

We propose, therefore, in this discourse, to take 
a brief religious view of our history and political 
institutions. 



DISCOURSE. 



The history of this nation naturally falls into 
three general periods of nearly equal length. The 
first may be called the period of Colonization, and 
extends from the establishment of the first perma- 
nent colony in Virginia, in 1607, to the abdication 
of James II, in 16S8. During this period of eighty- 
one years, the old thirteen colonies were planted 
and permanently established. During these years 
our fathers endured hardshij)s and sufferings of 
which we, their more favored descendants, can 
scarcely conceive. They suffered from a rigorous 
and unaccustomed climate, against which they had 
no sufficient protection. They suffered the lack 
of healthful and necessary food, before they could 
subdue the mighty forests, and convert the tangled 
wilderness into fruitful fields. They suffered from 
the jealousy and cruelty of the red men — not al- 
ways without palliation or excuse — who shot down 
their fathers and brothers as they toiled in the 
fields at mid-day, or burned their houses and vil- 
lages at midnight, and captured or tomahawked 
their wives and mothers and infant children, as 
they attempted to escape. What was to them 
more intolerable than all, they suffered from an 
arbitrary and exacting government in the mother 
country. At the close of this period their political 
condition was but little better than slavery. The 
charters of the colonies had been mostly deques- 



DISCOURSE. 5 

tered and cancelled, their legislative assemblies 
were prohibited, their elective franchises were 
taken away or rendered useless, religious freedom 
was denied them, and they were oppressed with 
burdensome taxes and duties. In answer to their 
remonstrances the Puritans were coolly told by the 
servile officers of King James, — " It is not for his 
majesty's interest that you should thrive ; you have 
no privilege left you but not to be sold as slaves." 
" The Governor invaded liberty and property after 
such a manner," said the moderate Increase Mather, 
" as no man could say anything was his own." 

Such was the condition of these colonies under 
James II., the last and basest of the Stuarts. Such 
were the difficulties which our brave forefathers 
encountered while laying the foundations of this 
Republic in the wilderness. And yet they never 
lost confidence in that God who had led them to 
these shores. Nor did they trust in vain. His 
watchful providence supplied their wants in the 
wilderness, shielded them from disease, gave them 
victory over their revengeful foes, sustained their 
hearts under untold discouragements, and finally 
delivered them from an arbitrary and oppressive 
foreign government. Whoever carefully studies 
the early history of this country, must feel assured 
that its infant colonies were under the special pro- 
tection of the King of kings. 



DISCOUKSE. 



To this succeeded the period of Colonial Gov- 
ernment, extending from the accession of William, 
Prince of Orange, to the British throne, in J 689, to 
the Declaration of American Independence, in 
1776. During these eighty-seven years, our infant 
colonies remained under a foreign domination more 
or less favorable to their growth and prosperity. 
It was a period of immense activity, both in the 
Old and the New World. Men struggled for free- 
dom of conscience, for religious liberty, for political 
rights, and for commercial privileges. The strug- 
gles of the Old World were transferred to the 
New, and upon the banks of the St. Lawrence and 
the Ohio Christian men and savages fought for the 
claims of England and of France, and for the bal- 
ance of European political power. The colonists 
were forced to defend, not only their religious and 
political rights, but their territory and their lives, 
against the encroachments of French Catholics and 
Indian savages. 

In these struggles originated the first American 
Congress. Mutual dangers taught the colonies 
the necessity of union* In 1690 the general 
court of Massachusetts addressed letters of in- 
vitation to all the colonies north of Maryland, re- 
questing them to send delegates to New- York to 



* Bancroft, vol. iii, p. 183. 



DISCOURSE. 



consult measures for the public safety. That Con- 
gress assembled the same year; and thus Massa- 
chusetts originated the idea of an American union. 
It was the result of weakness and mutual dangers, 
devised for mutual assistance and protection. 

Still the task-masters of Pharaoh vexed and op- 
pressed the struggling colonies. 

At length forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and 
our fathers declared themselves free, and appealed 
to the God of justice and the God of battles to de- 
fend their rights. Intolerance and persecution only 
strengthened the desire for religious freedom, and 
political oppression only deepened the love of civil 
liberty. Amidst these conflicts were formed the cha- 
racters of those noble patriots who freely staked 
" their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor," 
in their country's cause. God by his own provi- 
dence raised up that noble patriot band, and kin- 
dled the fire of freedom in their hearts, and trained 
them in the school of adversity for the work which 
he had appointed them. Their wrongs and suffer- 
ings were the means which God employed to fit 
them for their destiny. 

Our third historical period extends from the De- 
claration of American Independence, in 1776, to 
the present time. Of its numerous important his- 
torical events, it is not our present purpose to 
speak. Let us devoutly acknowledge the hand of 



DISCOURSE. 



Providence in the Revolutionary struggle for free- 
dom. God filled those patriot hearts with courage, 
and nerved those patriot arms with strength, and 
presided over the conflict, and gave the victory. 
He ruled over those subsequent deliberations which 
gave to this country a free constitution. He has 
maintained the union of these States, and blessed 
us with peace and prosperity unprecedented in the 
history of nations. He has been a wall of fire 
round about us to protect from foreign invasion 
and conquest. We stand to-day a free, a united, 
and a happy nation, because the principles of our 
free institutions have been implanted and sustained 
by divine grace in the hearts of the American 
people. There may they ever remain ! 

This hasty glance at our past history is enough 
to show that the hand of God has been busy here, 
laying the foundation of a mighty power in the 
earth. " He has not dealt so with any nation." 
Who can doubt that Infinite Wisdom designs to do 
a great work for all nations by means of this 
people ? We believe that certain great facts are 
here to be established, and certain great principles 
to be developed, which will revolutionize the world 
and bless all nations. 

Let us briefly develop some features of this 
great Providential plan, as they are suggested by 
our past history. 



DISCOUKSE. 



And first : — God evidently designed to produce 
a new type of national character, more vigorous 
and intellectual than any which preceded us. Men 
born in three quarters of the world met and strug- 
gled upon the American soil. ^Representatives of 
ten different European nations, aided by enslaved 
sons of Africa, contended with the wild men of the 
forest for possession and for mastery. Long and 
bravely did the Indian defend his hunting-grounds 
and the graves of his ancestors. But how could 
he withstand superior arms and superior skill \ 
His past history is mournful and pathetic. But 
whatever be his future destiny, he has left an in- 
delible impression upon American history and 
American character. His history is mingled with 
ours — written in letters of fire and blood, which 
attest his courage and his patriotism. And his 
blood has mingled with the blood of his proud 
conqueror in the veins of more than one illustrious 
American orator and patriot. 

The African, too, has made an abiding impres- 
sion upon our institutions, our system of legislation, 
and our national character. 

And while we deeply regret the existence of Amer- 
ican slavery, and regard it as the foulest blot upon 
the pages of our history, and a reproach to our free 
institutions, we believe the day will come when Afri- 
ca — made free with the liberty of the Son of God 

1* 



10 DISCOUESE. 

— will bless the chains and bondage of her sons in 
this Christian land. We are doing for Africa what 
despotic Europe did for us when she oppressed our 
fathers, and taught them in the school of affliction, 
and drove them forth to found new empires in the 
wilderness. Present providences indicate that God 
will overrule both the wrongs of the Indian and the 
bonds of the African, for the highest good, both 
temporal and spiritual, of those respective races ; 
and that this nation shall yet prove a blessing to 
those whom she has oppressed. 

But American character was chiefly moulded by 
the mutual influence of the emigrant bands upon 
each other. From ten different European coun- 
tries did the men come who either planted or en- 
larged the colonies in the United States before the 
Revolution.* English Royalists and Churchmen 
settled upon the banks of James River and the Po- 
tomac ; English Puritans and Commonwealth men 
took possession of the Connecticut, and the bays of 
New-England. Emigrants from Holland located 
upon the Hudson, and founded New- Amsterdam ; 
Swedes and Fins first peopled the banks of the 
Delaware ; French Huguenots found a home upon 
the shores of the Ashley and the Cooper ; Irish 
Catholics founded Maryland, and Scotch Presbyte- 

* Dr. BairiTs u Progress of Christianity in the United States." — Ban- 
croft's " History of the United States." 



DISCOURSE. 11 

rians made settlements in New-York and New-Jer- 
sey ; Protestant Poles, and Germans, and even "Wal- 
denses, nocked in considerable numbers to our shores, 
and found a home in one or another of our colonies. 
How various, how directly opposite were these 
emigrants in manners and customs, in modes of 
thought, in religious and political principles ! And 
yet from these various and antagonistic elements, 
God was about to form a new homogeneous mass, 
with a new and distinct character, the result of all 
the other characters combined and melted into 
one. Yet in some respects there was a common af- 
finity. Nearly all had been persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake. They were men of strong faith and 
fixed religious principles. They were men of vigor- 
ous and active minds, many of them men of learn- 
ing and cultivation. They were men patient both 
to suffer and to labor, willing to sacrifice present 
ease and self-interest for public good and the inter- 
ests of posterity. They were men independent, 
courageous, and enterprising, who chose to explore 
and subdue a new continent, and found a new em- 
pire for God, rather than submit to arbitrary op- 
pression and persecution in the land that gave them 
birth. Such was their general character, and such 
are the general characteristics of their descendants. 
" God sifted the nations of the Old World," said 
Cotton Mather, " in order to bring the best of his 



12 DISCOURSE. 

wheat to the New." It is a fixed fact, says an elo- 
quent living preacher,* that men of all nations and 
languages are here united and Americanized. It 
seems as if the great God meant of all these mate- 
rials to " make one new man," — a type of humanity, 
embracing the separate excellencies of all other 
forms. The element of power, for good or evil, 
involved in this unity and nationality, is already 
immense. What will it be when the " new man" — 
now comparatively in childhood — shall have grown 
to the full measure of his destined proportions ? 

This national character is the result of those 
providential arrangements which brought together 
and mingled, and combined, the elements of which 
it is composed. Who can doubt that God intends, 
by means of the vigor and the love of intelligence 
and freedom which he has infused into our national 
character, to quicken the march of humanity, and 
renovate the globe. 

Divine Wisdom intended to develop here the 
principles of a free political government. It was 
reserved for the New World to demonstrate to all 
nations, and to all time, that a nation with suffi- 
cient intelligence, and religious restraint, is capable 
of self-government. Even after the experiment 
had been repeatedly tried and failed — even in an 



* Dr. Riddle's Sermon—" Our Country for the sake of the World." 



DISCOURSE. 13 

age when despots claimed " a divine right" to op- 
press their subjects ; and when churchmen preached 
" passive obedience to tyrants ;" while Locke and 
Shaftesbury, the great philosopher and the great 
statesman, were planning a despotic empire in 
America, and forging a feudal constitution and po- 
litical chains for unborn millions of serfs — even in 
such an age God raised up men who had faith in 
the capability of the popular masses to govern 
themselves, and who wished to repeat the experi- 
ment in the New World. The " Holy Experiment," 
as Wm. Penn termed it, was tried, and the experi- 
ence of three-quarters of a century has pronounced 
it successful. Henceforth it remains a fixed fact, 
not only that intelligent and religious men are capa- 
ble of self-government, but that such a government 
is the wisest and happiest under which a nation can 
exist. 

We are careful to observe here that the peculiar 
form of our government is the result of providen- 
tial arrangements, no less than the free choice of 
the whole people. It was the result of mutual 
compromise, growing out of mutual dependence 
and necessities. 

All were desirous of a just and liberal govern- 
ment, but they differed widely as to the peculiar 
form of that government. Should it be a mild 
monarchy, remaining under the power and pro- 



14 DISCOURSE. 

tection of the British crown, with constitutional 
guaranties to prevent oppression ? Such a system 
would have suited the gallant cavaliers of Virginia, 
who had basked in the sunshine of royal favor at 
home, who had emigrated under the auspices of no- 
bility, and who both hated and feared the Repub- 
lican violence which they had experienced in the 
days of the Commonwealth. Should it be a kind 
of theocratic commonwealth, governed strictly upon 
religious principles, allowing equal rights, and the 
largest freedom to all " the faithful," but excluding 
all who would not subscribe the Calvanistic creed, 
nor submit to the wholesome discipline of " the El- 
ders ?" Such a government would have suited that 
generation of Puritans which persecuted the Ana- 
baptists, and banished Roger Williams to the wil- 
derness. Let us do these Puritan fathers justice. 
They were not so much intolerant as deceived by a 
wrong political theory. They attempted to unite 
the state with the church, or rather to absorb the 
state in the church. They persecuted, if persecu- 
tion it can be called, not on account of religion, but 
on account of politics. They had come to these 
shores to found a commonwealth for God, and they 
intended to govern it according to his Word. They 
claimed for themselves the right to determine who 
should be admitted as members of that common- 
wealth. They judged it not to be for their safety 



DISCOURSE. 15 

or their interests to admit other religious sects 
within their limits. Hence they banished Roger 
Williams, and persecuted the Quakers, not because 
they held peculiar religious opinions, but because 
they persisted in preaching their peculiar doctrines 
within their territory, and thus sowing seeds of sec- 
tarian discord in their midst. They persecuted, not 
from religious intolerance, but from an erroneous 
political theory. 

A third important party embraced the people of 
Rhode Island, and the followers of Wm. Penn 
upon the Delaware and the Schuylkill. They 
were the advocates of absolute toleration and 
universal enfranchisement. Believing all men to 
be equal in point of natural rights and privileges, 
they desired as far as possible to leave every man 
to do what was right in his own eyes. The the- 
ory of government which they favored was a loose 
popular democracy. 

In point of fact, neither of these three systems 
of governments was or could be adopted. The con- 
flicting sentiments of the people compelled them to 
seek some common middle ground, where Royalist, 
and Quaker, and Commonwealth men, could all 
meet and unite. That middle ground was a re- 
presentative republic, founded upon the principles 
which had been adopted by the Westminster di- 
vines for the government of the Presbyterian 



16 DISCOUESE. 

Church of Scotland. Thus, if New-England orig- 
inated the idea of a general Congress, and a union 
of states, the Presbyterians furnished the model of 
a government by representatives chosen by the 
people. And this form was adopted because it 
contained the elements of a just and popular gov- 
ernment, but chiefly because there was no other 
platform upon which all the extremes could unite. 
Thus, our government owes its origin and its form 
to that all-wise Providence which collected, and 
balanced, and harmonized the elements from which 
it was composed. 

Another great principle to be developed, was 
the self-sustaining scheme of church organization. 
From the days of Constantine, the church and the 
state have been united in the Old World. Even 
the Reformed churches still cling to the civil gov- 
ernment for support in all European countries. It 
was reserved for this government to demonstrate 
that the state may safely tolerate all religious de- 
nominations, and that the Church can support it- 
self without political aid or interference. The past 
history and present condition of the American 
Churches prove beyond a doubt the wisdom and 
safety of the system. Our present object leads us 
to remark that the theory of a self-sustaining 
Church, like that of a representative government, 
was the result of Providential arrangements. So 



DISCOURSE. 17 

various and so opposite were the religious views — 
even of the early colonists—as to render the estab- 
lishment of a national Church impossible. The at- 
tempt was made. The Episcopal Church was es- 
tablished by law in Virginia, and so remained for 
more than a century and a half, when the connec- 
tion was dissolved by the will of the people. 
When government attempted to enforce the Act 
of Uniformity in New-England, the people rose in 
resistance. The same thing occurred in South Car- 
olina and other places. The Puritans soon relin- 
quished the idea of establishing independency, 
even within their own territories, and opened their 
gates to the oppressed of every sect. Free tolera- 
tion to all religious sects, and peculiar privileges to 
none, were the great principles which Eoger Wil- 
liams was the first to advocate in New-England, 
and which he established in the colony of Ehode 
Island. These were the principles for which the 
Quakers contended everywhere. Free and equal 
toleration in religion, and universal political en- 
franchisement, were the main features of the " Holy 
Experiment" which George Fox and William Penn 
were anxious to try in the New World. And it is 
much owing to their influence that these are now 
the established and cherished principles of our gov- 
ernment. 

Thus we are brought to the conclusion, that the 



18 DISCOURSE. 

experiment of a self-sustaining Church was the re- 
sult of Providential arrangements. So divided 
were the sentiments of men on religious subjects, 
and so balanced one against another, as to render 
impossible the establishment of any particular 
Church. Besides, men who had suffered for their 
religion at home, and who had fled to the wilder- 
ness for peace, were glad to obtain quiet by allow- 
ing to others the same privileges which they sought 
for themselves. They had learned in the school of 
persecution to respect the religious feelings and the 
conscientious scruples of those who differed from 
themselves. 

Providence seems to have intended this land as 
a field for the development of Protestant Chris- 
tianity. Apparently unimportant circumstances 
prevented this whole continent from falling, first, into 
the hands of Catholic Spain, and then under the pow- 
er of Catholic France. God gave it to England, when 
England was about to become a mighty, Protes- 
tant nation. At a time when the Reformation was 
almost arrested in the Old World, and when perse- 
cution threatened utterly to destroy its effects, God 
opened the gates of this country, that his faithful, 
persecuted children might enter, and establish free 
institutions upon the principles which they had 
adopted. Our fathers were not only exiles, but 
Protestant exiles — not only pilgrims, but Protestant 



DISCOUESE. 19 

pilgrims, banished for the faith once delivered to 
the saints. Hatred to a persecuting Church, which 
enslaved both the bodies and the souls of men, was 
a common tie which united Churchman with Puri- 
tan, Lutheran with Anabaptist, Quaker with Hu- 
guenot. The God of Heaven gave this land to his 
persecuted Protestant people. Our past history 
and our present condition indicate that it is to re- 
main the land of the free, the refuge of the op- 
pressed, and the home of the persecuted. Such it 
has been for more than two centuries; and still 
they come with every breeze that blows from the 
shores of despotism. Men of every nation, every 
language, and every religion, flock thither to be 
amalgamated with the general mass, to assume our 
national character, and to adopt our political and 
religious principles. 

Can we doubt that God intends to do great 
things for the human race by means of this great 
nation which he has created ? Can we doubt that 
our country, with its free political government, and 
its voluntary religious organizations, and its liberal 
Protestant principles, is destined to stand as a 
model and a beacon to the nations of the earth ? 
The great God who led our fathers to these shores, 
and watched over the infant colonies, and by his 
providence moulded the hearts of the American 
people, and determined the character of its reli- 



20 DISCOURSE. 

gious and political institutions, intended to accom- 
plish some mighty purpose. And until that pur- 
pose is fulfilled, the blue arch of heaven is but the 
inverted hand of the Almighty stretched over our 
heads to protect us from danger. We have faith in 
Providence that a glorious destiny awaits our coun- 
try. The mighty influx of the nations to our 
shores, as the adventurous and oppressed of every 
land seek a home beneath the " star-spangled ban- 
ner," is but an image of the mighty streams of mo- 
ral and religious influence which shall roll back 
from this free land, and pervade every continent, 
every country, and every valley on the globe. 
Such we believe to be our glorious destiny. God 
grant that it ?may be realized. 

The providential goodness of the past fills our 
hearts with hope for the future. " The fathers, 
where are they V The weary exiles sleep in peace 
beneath the soil of their adopted country. The 
Pilgrims rest from their labors. They have gone 
to another countiy, even an heavenly. They 
came and founded an empire for God, then passed 
away forever. The hands that signed the charter 
of our liberties have mouldered back to dust. The 
eloquent voices that in our early councils plead for 
freedom and the rights of man, are hushed in death. 
The noble hearts that swelled with courage and 
with hope in our Revolutionary conflict, have 



DISCOURSE. 21 

ceased to beat forever. They are gone — all gone — 
to return no more ; but being dead, they yet live 
in their achievements, and in the grateful hearts of 
a free and happy nation. 

God raised up another generation of champions 
for freedom and the rights of man, and they too 
are passing away. The booming cannon and the 
mournful bells which announce the death of Henry 
Clay, are still ringing in our ears. Those solemn 
tones bring sadness to a nation's heart. A nation 
pauses to mingle their tears above his ashes. And 
well they may, for with all his faults he was one of 
God's own noblemen. However men may differ 
from his political views, and however we must con- 
demn the morality of some acts of his early career, 
even his enemies being judges, he was an honest 
man, an upright statesman, an able and skilful 
politician, and a true-hearted patriot. He was an 
eloquent orator, an accomplished scholar, a faithful 
friend, and a courteous adversary. He was a friend 
to religion, especially in his last years, and died 
professing his belief in the great cardinal doctrines 
of Christianity, and trusting in the Saviour. What 
a beautiful scene was that, when the great states- 
man and his colored servant boy, and the embassa- 
dor of Christ, all professed servants of the same 
Divine Master, united together in that " upper 
room" in Washington City, to commemorate the 



22 DISCOUKSE. 

Redeemer's dying love ! It was a scene which an- 
gels loved to witness. 

Perhaps no man, since the great and good Wash- 
ington, was dearer to the heart of this nation than 
Henry Clay. Thousands loved him as a brother, 
and will mourn for him as a father. He needs no 
warrior's sword or presidential wreath to perpetu- 
ate his fame. His epitaph is engraven upon the 
hearts of his countrymen, and his spirit lives in the 
great national improvements of the last half cen- 
tury, more enduring than monuments of adamant. 
In the long flight of years, when we and our chil- 
dren shall be sleej)ing in the dust — when many a 
page of history shall have perished — when many a 
proud name, once deemed immortal, shall have 
been blotted from the roll of fame and forgotten — 
when many a lofty monument shall have crumbled 
into dust, one group of monuments shall stand im- 
mortal and imperishable amidst the desolation of 
ages. There shall be still legible the illustrious 
names of Washington and Jefferson, of Franklin 
and of Adams, of Jackson and of Clay. 

And yet they were but mortal. They were only 
great as Providence employed them to work out 
the destiny of our country. God alone is great. 
God alone is eternal. God alone can preserve and 
perpetuate the civil and religious institutions of this 
happy land. But of this be assured, that He who 



DISCOURSE. 23 

has thus far raised up noble patriots and statesmen 
to die in its cause, and to live for its interests, will 
not forsake the work of his own hands. 

One parting word, and we have done. It is a 
sacred duty to love and serve such a country as 
ours, and to transmit its glory and privileges to 
future generations. This you shall do not by be- 
coming a noisy, blustering politician, not by becom- 
ing the obedient slave of a party, not by neglect- 
ing your own proper calling to electioneer for 
hungry office-seekers, not by neglecting the duties 
of religion to attend to politics and party ques- 
tions, but by being an honest man, a good citizen, 
and a true Christian. Serve God and keep his com- 
mandments, and he will take care of the interests 
of your country. Righteousness exalteth a nation, 
but sin is a reproach to any people. However God 
has blessed us hitherto, and whatever he has pur- 
posed to do for the world by our instrumentality, 
of this be assured, if we transgress his laws, and 
forsake his commandments, he will visit our trans- 
gressions with a rod, and our iniquity with stripes. 
The great purpose of God here is a religious pur- 
pose. He brought pious and devoted men here to 
found a religious empire. Our fathers planted the 
tree of liberty with faith, and prayer, and fasting, 
and moistened its roots with their tears and their 
blood. They planted it for the glory of God, and 



24 DISCOURSE. 

committed it to his holy keeping, therefore he 
blessed it and caused it to grow. It still lives and 
grows, because he blesses it. If we forsake the 
God of our fathers, and deny their faith, he will 
smite it with a curse, and wither it from the root. 
Fear God and serve him ; be honest men, and good 
citizens, and humble Christians, and God will 
bless our country to the latest generation. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 801 819 9 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 801 819 9 



peanulipe* 



